LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AGFC) - The Brown Thrasher is a common bird throughout Arkansas, year-round. They are in the same family as the Northern Mockingbird, and though their plumage is quite different from the Mockingbird's, their body shape is very similar.
They are fairly large songbirds, with long proportions – long legs, long bill, and long tail, which they often hold cocked upwards, similar to the manner of a wren. The Brown Thrasher's rusty brown-colored head, back, tail, and wings, along with its cream-colored, black-spotted chest and belly help it to stay hidden in its preferred habitat of thick, tangled shrubbery. When they come out in the open however, they are quite conspicuous. Their bright yellow eyes and slightly down curved bill give them a stern look.
They primarily feed low to the ground, and are named for the way they thrash about in the underbrush, violently scratching about with their feet, and throwing leaves quickly to the side with their bills in search of insect prey, using the element of surprise to catch them.
They are the only species of Thrasher east of Texas, which makes ID in Arkansas fairly easy. They are exuberant singers, and have the largest song repertoire of any other North American species! Like other members of the Mimid family, they mimic the songs of other birds.
They typically repeat the same phrase of a song twice, whereas their cousin, the Mockingbird, usually repeats phrases three times, making them easy to ID via song when they are hiding in dense cover.
